25 Spring-Summer 2017 investigation.27 The Livingstone Formulation, which was used by Any University UK, is a clear violation of the MacPherson Principle. The MacPherson Report also introduced the concept of "unconscious" or "unintentional racism," and this allows us to focus on the act or speech rather than on the person’s inner essence when deciding the question of antisemitism. This is important because much contemporary antisemitism is unconscious and unintentional and can be identified by the replication of antisemitic tropes without the need to consider any moral failing on the part of the individual(s) concerned.28 This concept is particularly important in the university setting where student supporters of Palestine may not intend to be antisemitic and vehemently deny that they are antisemitic, and universities are not prepared to label student supports of Palestine as “antisemites.”29 Another challenge is to design and implement a program of education and training about antisemitism and Jewish identity across the university sector. This has been recognized by Universities UK which acknowledged in its 2016 UUK Taskforce Report on Hate Crime in Universities, Changing the Culture, that there is a lack of understanding about Jewish identity and the antisemitism that manifests itself in anti-Zionist expression on campus. It identifies the need for “improved understanding of the broader ethnic and national dimension to Jewish identity” and recommends proactive training for university staff.30 The Select Committee also recommended that Universities UK should work with appropriate student groups to produce a resource for students, lecturers and student societies on how to deal sensitively with the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, and how to ensure that pro-Palestinian campaigns avoid drawing on antisemitic rhetoric; and further, that this resource should be widely distributed via students’ unions, university staff, and social media.31 In terms of other changes that need to be made, universities and students’ unions need to regard Jewish students as an ethnic minority and to include them in the BME classification. Universities UK has been helpful in this regard, making it clear in its 2015 Taskforce Report that “under current legislation, Jews are identified as members of a race as well as a religion.”32 Recognition of Jewish students as an ethnic as well as a religious minority would encourage universities to regard antisemitism as a form of racism and to thereby include it in their anti-racism and diversity training. Universities also need to be educated on the law that limits free speech on campus and on their legal obligations to Jewish students as well as to other minorities. Finally, if we are to address campus antisemitism effectively, we need to form an organization in the UK whose specific remit is to combat campus antisemitism. Such an organization could be modelled on the non-profit Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law in Washington DC, which was established to lead the fight against campus antisemitism by means of research, advocacy, education and training. It is envisaged that such an organization, which would need funding and full-time staff, including lawyers, would be responsible for designing, coordinating and delivering the required program of education and training to universities, for providing pro bono advice and representation to students experiencing antisemitic harassment, and for providing advice to university administrators with respect to their legal obligations to Jewish students. The organization would also liaise with bodies like Universities UK, the Equality Challenge Unit (an organization that works to further and support equality and diversity for students and staff in all UK higher education), the National Union of Students, the Union of Jewish Students, and the Jewish communal organizations. n Lesley Klaff is a senior lecturer in law at Sheffield Hallam University and a member of UK Lawyers for Israel. She also serves on the academic advisory boards of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law, Washington D.C., and the Berlin International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. 27. Supra note 3, para. 22: “…the perceptions of Jewish people – both collectively and individually, as an alleged victim – should be the starting point for any investigation into antisemitism.” 28. David Hirsh, Hostility to Israel and Antisemitism: Towards a Sociological Approach, 5 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM, (2013), at 23-24. 29. Anglo-Israel-Association (AIA) Roundtable Discussion on Campus Antisemitism conducted under Chatham House Rules, House of Lords, Oct. 7, 2014. 30. Changing the Culture, Report of the Universities UK Taskforce examining violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students, available at http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/ reports/Documents/2016/changing-the-culture.pdf (last visited March 26, 2017). 31. Supra note 3, para. 94. 32. Supra note 30.
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